When I tell people that I always associate the brash New York musical Guys and Dolls with the Catholic priesthood, they think I’ve got my wires crossed.

Yes, there’s that Sally Army girl who’s after marrying Sky Masterson, they say, but where’s the priest among the crap players? The answer is Father Willie Martin, an ex-ballet dancer of eccentric charm.

When we first met 40 years ago, Willie was far from being a man of the cloth. “Describe me as a self-confessed incorrigible rebel,” he said. He was the North Staffs Operatic Society’s new producer, and his first show was Guys and Dolls.

I should have known that something different was on the way at the old Theatre Royal. After all, this was a man who’d danced at La Scala in Milan, and been in the company of stage legends like Greta Garbo. He even claimed that Maria Callas had said nice things about his singing, but I took that as a joke.

Production of Guys and Dolls.

Willie made it clear from the outset that the show by the local amateurs was going to be sexy — not in a crude sense, but as an exciting undercurrent to all the dancing and dice-rolling.

Rehearsals became electrifying, with Willie kicking higher than anyone else to show the cast how to carry off a big dance number.